Submitted by Ashley Edwards on Tue, 12/03/2019 - 08:44
Flying finish for Fox: cross country season round-up
The cross-country season has finally come to a close for most, with the conclusion of the domestic season at the UK Inter-counties XC this weekend in Loughborough, following the English and Scottish National championships on the 17th February. Several Hare and Hounds members were in action across the two events, although many competing for their home clubs due to competition rules.
The UK Inter-counties field comprises of the top 8 athletes from each county in the UK and doubles as World Trials in the U20 and Senior age groups. Ollie Fox asserted his outstanding athletic form with an incredible performance over the 10.7km Senior Men’s course, running strongly to stick with the leading group all the way round as 40mph winds and the rolling course destroyed the rest of the field behind him. Engaged in tight battle all the way round, Ollie showed pure determination to outkick BUCS Silver medallist Patrick Dever for Bronze in 32:53. As an U23 athlete, this result is quite possibly the performance of the year for a Cambridge athlete, and puts him in a very strong chance of being selected for the GB Senior team for the World XC Championships coming up soon in Denmark. The race was won by Adam Hickey in 32:44.
Elsewhere in the field, two of our most experienced Blues athletes, Will Ryle-Hodges and Phil Crout, put in strong performances to finish 36th and 40th respectively and were part of the Gold medal winning Middlesex team. In the Women’s race, which was held over the same course as the mens for the first time in 2019, Fiona Bunn ran well to finish 29th in her first senior race, followed by Lizzy Apsley in 86th and Becca Frake in 105th.
A few weeks previously, the National champs weekend also saw some impressive performances from the Hare and hounds, the highlight being Jeremy Dempsey’s Bronze medal in the U20 English national, with Joe Massingham and Aidan Rigby finishing 18th and 47th in the same race. Nancy Scott continued her fine form with her first top 10 result in the U20W coming 9th. She was followed by strong Cambridge representation with Fiona Bunn in 15th, Phoebe Barker 25th, Joni Wildman 45th and Lucy Thompson 62nd.
A summary of the results can be found below:
Intercounties XC
Senior Men
3rd Oliver Fox
36th Will Ryle-Hodges
40th Phillip Crout
Senior Women
29th Fiona Bunn
86th Lizzy Apsley
105th Becca Frake
English National XC:
Junior Men
3rd Jeremy Dempsey
18th Joe Massingham
47th Aidan Rigby
Junior Women
9th Nancy Scott
15th Fiona Bunn
25th Phoebe Barker
45th Joni Wildman
62nd Lucy Thompson
Senior Men
45th Will Ryle-Hodges
48th Phillip Crout
49th Norman Shreeve
63rd George Gathercole
192nd Jose Gray
201st Jamie Edgerton
509th Tom Kearns
Senior Women
48th Lizzy Apsley
108th Becca Frake
Scottish National XC:
Senior Men
32nd Iain Davies
50th Pete Cameron
Regional XC championships
Northerns
4th Joe Massingham (Junior Men)
35th Lizzy Apsley (Senior Women)
Southerns
7th Fiona Bunn (Junior Women)
21st Lauren Major (Senior Women)
57th Becca Frake (Senior Women)